Colombia tests OLPC laptops... running Windows XP

The government of Colombia has established a deal to bring the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's distinctive XO laptop to the country for a pilot program that will involve schools in several towns. These laptops won't be packing the penguin, however, because they will come with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system preinstalled.

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Pranksters dupe Americans with fake New York Times

A group of pranksters handed out more than 1.2 million fake New York Times newspapers mainly in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday with a front page story declaring “Iraq War Ends”.

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Obama and Our Schools

President-elect Barack Obama ranked education fifth among his priorities, and if it is being downplayed, that’s a mistake.

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The Election Lives!

The U.S. Senate race in Minnesota is up in the air. You may want to consider becoming totally obsessed with it.

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Pictures of the Day, Nov. 11

President-elect Barack Obama laid a wreath at a soldier's memorial in Chicago on Veteran's Day. Obama hugs Tammy Duckworth, Irak War Veteran.

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Baby, You’re Home

A growing number of women have been opting to give birth in the intimate and familiar surroundings of home — even in small New York City apartments.

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After the Credit crunch, the Oil crunch

Watchdog warns over falling supplies: the International Energy Agency is to call today for an energy revolution and a "major de-carbonisation" of global fuel sources as the world confronts tighter oil supplies caused by shrinking investment. • World needs to find 64m extra barrels a day by 2030 • Green revolution required to replace fuel sources

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Boxers, Briefs or Silks?

Sarah Palin is now trying to unmake her McCain campaign makeover and morph from uptown cloistered girl back to down-home accessible girl.

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How to Fix a Flat

Somebody ought to call Steve Jobs and ask him if he’d like to run a car company for a year. It wouldn’t take him long to come up with the G.M. iCar.

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Nicomachus

Mathematician who wrote an arithmetic book: Introduction to Arithmetic.

This man saw more in number than meets the eye.

Craig J. Hogan

Indeterminacy of Holographic Quantum Geometry

Craig J. Hogan

University of Chicago and Fermilab

An efective theory based on wave optics is used to describe indeterminacy of position in holographic spacetime with a UV cutoff at the Planck scale. Wavefunctions describing spacetime positions are modeled as complex disturbances of quasi-monochromatic radiation. It is shown that the product of standard deviations of two position wavefunctions in the plane of a holographic light sheet is equal to the product of their normal separation and the Planck length. For macroscopically separated positions the transverse uncertainty is much larger than the Planck length, and is predicted to be observable as a "holographic noise" in relative position with a distinctive shear spatial character, and an absolutely normalized frequency spectrum with no parameters once the fundamental wavelength is fixed from the theory of gravitational thermodynamics. The spectrum of holographic noise is estimated for the GEO600 interferometric gravitational-wave detector, and is shown to approximately account for currently unexplained noise between about 300 and 1400Hz. In a holographic world, this result directly and precisely measures the fundamental minimum interval of time.

This is the Abstract of a paper that could be correct, and fundamental.

Are We Living in Two Space Dimensions?

Craig Hogan thinks so.

He works at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago. An optic holograph is a two dimensional object that encodes a third. When looked at different angles one sees a third dimension; this encoding is through light polarization.

Now Hogan claims that we live in two space dimensions and time, the third space dimension being an "illusion".

To prove that one has to see some noise around 1kHz in Gravity Wave Detectors. Well, they see that noise.

I'll keep you posted. This is Nobel Prize worth work.

Indeterminacy of Holographic Quantum Geometry

An effective theory based on wave optics is used to describe indeterminacy of position in holographic spacetime with a UV cutoff at the Planck scale. Wavefunctions describing spacetime positions are modeled as complex disturbances of quasi-monochromatic radiation. It is shown that the product of standard deviations of two position wavefunctions ..

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Research shows that our concept of time may be flawed

"It's as if, in the real world, we are living inside a hologram," says Hogan. "The illusion is almost perfect."

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Ninety Years Ago

On November 11, 1918 armistice was declared in Europe.

Never again!

Millions of peoples should not die for the follies of a few kings and dignitaries.

Who remembers that silly man, Archduke Franz Ferdinand; and so many died.

Never again!

A Holiday to End All Wars

For Americans, Veterans Day celebrates the survivors of all the nation’s 20th and 21st century wars. In France and Britain, by contrast, the mood is altogether more somber.

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What if There is No Money?

Bob Herbert from the NYT writes in the piece below, that President Obama has to give jobs to people. I was wondering, what if Obama comes to the White House and finds out that all of Bush's friends looted the country?

I hope not.

Beyond the Fat Cats

When the Champagne and caviar crowd is in trouble, taxpayer money can be found quickly. But the working poor and young are being clobbered in this downturn.

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25,000 Teachers Protest in Guerrero

Today 25, 000 grammar school teachers from all over Guerrero converged to this capital city of Chilpancingo. The power of the Calderón administration, apparently supported by the State Governor, is showing signs of fatigue.

I believe the Mexican government will have to pay more attention to the protesting teachers.

Also today Calderón named Fernando Gómez Mont Urueta (below) as Interior Minister after the untimely death of Juan Camilo Mouriño Terrazo last Tuesday.

Mexico: Interior Minister Is Named

President Felipe Calderón appointed Fernando Francisco Gómez Mont, a lawyer and former lawmaker, as the new interior minister.

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Domingo Gómez Morín

This graph represent the solution to the equation:

F_n = 3F_{n - 1} + 3F_{n - 2} + F_{n - 3}

This equation connects three previous values, to the fourth one, so one needs to give three initial values. For this case I chose:

F₁ = 3 , F₂ = 15 , F₃ = 57.

The solution tends to (1 + 2^1/3 + 2^2/3)ⁿ, as n increases.

According to Gómez Morín, this equation helps us get a periodic generalized continued fraction for these cubic roots of integer coefficient polynomials.

FT.com / World - Mexico hedges almost all of its oil exports

Mexico hedged it's oil exports with derivatives contracts at $70-$100 a barrel.

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Mexico: the next crisis

DestabilizationTerror and a grim warning about future instability struck our NAFTA partner, Mexico, on the day Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.

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Small Basic Teaches Kids How to Program

After a year in the making, and with very little fanfare, Microsoft last month launched Small Basic, a free programming language aimed at kids. Unlike Scratch and Alice, tools designed for kids to learn programming in a 'codeless' environment, Small Basic is essentially a small version of the BASIC language.

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Emptying Pandora’s Box

Crisis demands statesmanship, which cannot be composed of calculation alone, but must reach for the unquenchable in the human spirit. Hope.

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Did environmental disasters play role in Mayan decline?

Apocalypto fans might be forgiven for thinking the fabled collapse of the ancient Maya, the retreat of a civilization from pyramids and ceremonial centers across Central America from 800 to 1000 A.D., involved all sorts of cataclysmic events, war, famine and devastation.

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Obama Economic Plan:How to turn the New Deal into a Big Deal

"Franklin Delano Obama? " (Paul Krugman) Barack Obama’s chances of leading a new New Deal depend largely on whether his short-run economic plans are bold enough. Progressives can only hope that he has the necessary audacity.

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Obama's Historic Victory Howard Zinn

Those of us on the Left who have criticized Obama, as I have, for his failure to take bold positions on the war and on the economy, must join the exultation of those Americans, black and white, who shouted and wept Tuesday night as they were informed that Barack Obama had won the presidential election. It is truly a historic moment, that a ..

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It Still Felt Good the Morning After

Almost every assumption about America that was taken as a given by our political culture on Tuesday morning was proved wrong by Tuesday night.

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Show Me the Money

To everyone overseas, I’m glad you all feel that America “is back.” If you want Barack Obama to succeed, though, don’t just show us the love, show us the money.

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China Unveils $586 Billion Economic Stimulus Plan

China announced plans to spend billions on a wide array of infrastructure and social welfare projects in a bold move aimed at bolstering its economy.

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Indian satellite captured by Moon

Indian satellite captured by Moon

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Take a Bow, America

We still have two wars to deal with and a severe economic crisis. But we should not lose sight of the profound significance of this week.

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A Political Manners Manual

With all the stories about people doing happy dances in the street after Barack Obama won, we have overlooked the dark side of the postelection mood.

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UPDATE 1-Mexico's Slim buys stake in U.S. drilling company

(Updates to replace sourcing to SEC) MEXICO CITY, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought a 7.64 percent stake in U.S. company Bronco Drilling, which has a contract to drill three wells for state oil monopoly Pemex, according to...

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Universities Under Stress

The NYT just published an article on the financial troubles of American universities (below). I am the beneficiary of the magnanimity of the American people when I attended UCSB from 1973 to 1981.

It is logical that under the Financial Tsunami that just hit the US economy, centers of higher learning will be battered also.

Maybe that is why Antonio Villaraigosa was just invited to the first serious meeting with President Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Many white rich men must be running out the door after the mess they left behind. The poor people of the US will have to come and put the pieces back together again.

As Carlos Slim Helú said once, countries do not go bankrupt. Now he is one of the three richest men on Earth. The other one Warren Buffett, was there in the meeting with Obama, and Villaraigosa, also.

Countries do not go bankrupt; but it will take some time before these brave men and women put things straight up again.

I am grateful for what I owe the US, and I hope to see that big country up north, back on its feet again.

Go, Obama, go!

Tough Times Strain Colleges Rich and Poor

Public and private universities are freezing hiring and postponing construction projects as endowments shrink and states cut their financing.

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CHAPTER 7 The Final Days (Newsweek Special)

Obama was leading in the polls, even in red states like Virginia. But McCain almost seemed to glory in being the underdog.

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Unknown "Structures" Tugging at Universe, Study Says

Something may be out there. Way out there. On the outskirts of creation, unknown, unseen "structures" are tugging on our universe like cosmic magnets, a controversial new study says.

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Obama Convenes Economic Advisers

President-elect Barack Obama will meet with a group of high-profile economic experts in Chicago on Friday.

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Michael Moore

I hope he is right:

"What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return. Imagine supporting our country's greatest minds as they seek to cure illness, discover new forms of energy, and work to save the planet. I know, pinch me."

Pinch Me ...a message from Michael Moore

Friends,Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.

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Ford Plans Cuts as It Burns Through $7.7 Billion

Ford announced that its automotive business lost $2.9 billion in the third quarter and said that it would cut more jobs to conserve cash.

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Unemployment Rate at 14-Year High After Big October Losses

The economy lost 240,000 nonfarm jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the government reported, as the slowdown took a toll on households and businesses.

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Paul Krugman: The Obama Agenda

Right now many commentators are urging Barack Obama to think small. Let’s hope he has the good sense to ignore their advice.

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An Eternal Revolution

Barack Obama’s victory wasn’t a radical moment of change in American history but rather was the culmination of the founding fathers’ vision of our democracy.

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Retailers Report a Sales Collapse

Most of the nation’s retailers reported double-digit declines in October sales, underscoring how the financial turmoil has touched all consumers.

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Obama, Assembling Team, Turns to the Economy

The financial markets, foreign leaders and even the Bush administration are looking to President-elect Barack Obama for signs of how he will manage the crisis.

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Energy agency sees oil price rising to $200 a barrel

The era of cheap oil is over, the International Energy Agency warned yesterday as it predicted crude values would soon rebound to above $100 a barrel and double again by 2030 as fields in the North Sea and elsewhere in the world declined faster than expected.

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Obama won 66 percent of the kids.

Timothy Egan writes in the NYT (below), that Obama is a young people star. What does that mean?

I want to believe that my children and their friends are better than me.

Timothy Egan: This American Moment — The Surprises

If you look closely at who voted for Obama, you'll see a lot of people who weren't supposed to.

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Cuba hails Obama win, hopes US embargo will ease

During the long US election campaign, Cubans rooted for Mr Obama, believing his victory would overturn the US economic embargo on the communist island state. There is also optimism about Mr Obama's declaration during his campaign that he would be ready to talk about easing restrictions on travel and on remittances - the money US Cubans send to

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Bill Joy with Obama?

Below you can read John Doerr's advice to Obama, hire Bill.

It pains me to see Sun Microsystems going down the drain. The US has to leverage its technical talent. The Chinese government won't do it; you can bet on that.

Sensible talk finally coming from "El Norte". Eight years of dark ages for the greatest country of modern times is enough, ENOUGH.

I also invested in Sun Microsystems when I had money. I hope one day I can keep betting on the winning horse in the race: Technology.

Bits: John Doerr’s Advice for Barack Obama: Hire Bill

Top venture capitalist John Doerr gives Barack Obama advice on tech policy that just happens to favor Mr. Doerr's firm.

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AOL 9.1

I am incompetent.

My wife registered to AOL in 1995, when I left my family in Warrenville to go back to Mexico. She kept connected to me through this service.

Through all these years she has kept the conversation going, whether I am there or not.

Today I tried to install AOL 9.1 on my desktop. I failed.

Of course I can connect through the web browser of my choice using our AOL account, I use mainly three. But somehow it piques me to connect like a real technical man, with my own AOL installation on my desktop.

You know what?

At first it worked, for a day or two; that was a good feeling.

Then all of a sudden, through a series of obscure messages I do not feel like printing here; the software informed me that it couldn't connect anymore. I did try, my regular simple minded tricks to no avail, I do not even want to tell you how many times.

I couldn't do it.

I have been posting here all kinds of "nice" AOL emails informing me how many services that I hardly used anyway, were going to be cut. I had even bought AOL stock when I had a job at Lucent.

You know what? I think that it is going to be a long time, before something like AOL, grows up again.

Maybe a year or two.

I'll have my eyes open for the new kid in the block. Google, Digg? I really don't know. But it will come, and Joe the Plumber will be able to enjoy the Internet experience with no hassle.

Equality’s Winding Path

We were disappointed that voters in four states chose to approve ballot measures that discriminate against couples of the same sex.

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Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie

Some people said that a President Obama would make the White House the Black House. The opposite is true: Barack Obama has the chance to make the White House pristine again.

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Thinking of Good Vibrations

Today, you can bask in the realization that there are billions of people around the planet who loathed our country last week but are now in awe of its capacity to rise above historic fears.

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Perfecting the Union

Barack Obama’s idea, put simply, was that America can be better than it has been. It can embody once more what the world still craves from the American idea: hope.

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The Man Who Could Turn Anyone into a Torturer

Using just the authority of his lab coat and actors paid to scream, Yale psychology researcher Stanley Milgram turned dozens of ordinary people into torturers and murderers. Or at least, that's what his research subjects believed.

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New Type of Particle May Have Been Found

Last week, physicists announced that the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, has produced particles that they are unable to explain. Could it be a sign of new physics?

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4,294,967,295 Comments

Seems about normal for an Obama article.

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I did Cry

Last night watching the scenes from Grant Park, my eyes watered. I remembered Martin Luther King when I saw Jesse Jackson crying at Grant Park. He did cry then, and now again, but for very different reasons.

Historic Night.

Plane Crash Kills Mexico’s Point Man in Drug War

Mexico’s interior minister and 12 other people died Tuesday night when a government jet crashed into a tony business district in Mexico City.

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Obama's Words

Last night I stayed up to witness history. Here is one excerpt from Obama's speech last night at Grant Park, as reported by the NYT.

"It’s been a long time coming," the president-elect added, "but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America."

Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

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Google Walks Away From Yahoo Ad Partnership

The move, which came after antitrust regulators raised objections, leaves Yahoo scrambling for a plan for growth.

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Mexico’s Interior Minister Killed in Jet Crash

The minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño, and seven others were killed in Mexico City.

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Finishing Our Work

Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward: Everything really is possible in America.

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Obama at Grant Park

I am watching this great man right now talking to the World. We need to pull together out of this mess. Maybe people of color know better how to fix things. Selfish leaders are useless.

Mexicans for Obama

I just dugg the 23010 digg if you voted for Obama (below). I did not vote because I am Mexican. But I am fully behind Americans in their decision.

Digg This If You Voted For Obama!

Realtime election results!

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President Barack Obama

Barack Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens.

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Grant Park

Now I am watching Grant Park in Chicago.

John McCain

I just watched his concession speech. I like him.

Senator Obama will be President Obama.

Latest election calls from AP and NPR. NPR predicts that Ohio wil go to Obama. It is over.

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After Epic Campaign, Voters Go to Polls

In a tumultuous period of American history, voters were writing the ending to a political saga nearly two years in the making.

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Done Deal

10:10 PM
273 Electoral Votes

Democracy Now

I am watching Amy Goodman and Juan González, these guys act like if Obama won.

I guess they are right. At 9:50 PM Central Time, I call Obama the Winner!

Remember, you read it here first.

192 Electoral Votes

Obama needs 270.


Obama 29,769,632

McCain 28,450,626

It looks it is going to happen.

9:33 PM Central Time.

Democrats Aim to Expand Majorities in Congress

The question is not which party will control Congress next year, but how bulletproof that control will be.

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Order and Prediction

Obama could be President of the US. That is the news. Fifty years ago, I would've not predicted that. To predict, there has to be a pattern. Sometimes patterns are hidden by the way we choose to understand something. No black man has ever been elected to this position.

Looking at the map on the front page of the NYT, I see a lot of red counties in that country. I really don't see a pattern that will make me predict an Obama victory.

Of course there is that mysterious Electoral College, according to the NYT, they are tied on the popular vote; 11,920,663 for Obama, and 11,850,353 for McCain. To me that is a tie; but Electoral vote wise it is: 62 to 8, Obama's way.

I don't predict a winner at 8:14 PM central time.

John McCain

At this point the South is going McCain´s way.

Bummer.

That was at 7:30 PM in Florida, now at 7:40 PM, Florida leans towards Obama.

Weird.

After Epic Campaign, Voters Go to Polls

In a tumultuous period of American history, voters were writing the ending to a political saga nearly two years in the making.

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Obama

He won the first town (below). Town by town the whole country has to put the US back in a road to prosperity.

Obama Wins Dixville Notch, NH, The First Place To Vote

Democrat Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch, N.H., where the nation's first Election Day votes were cast and counted early Tuesday. Obama defeated John McCain 15-6.

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The Fierce Urgency of Now

Bob Herbert, as always has the gravitas lacking in much of American opinion makers. His piece below, reminds us of the grave moment we are facing for the survival of our way of life. Deniers, are just ignorant. I hope that when Barack Hussein Obama, becomes the 44th President of the USA, he invites this thoughtful man to his team of advisors.

So Little Time, So Much Damage

Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in President George W. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball.

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Beyond Election Day

As Americans go to the polls in what is probably the most important presidential election since World War II, what they really have to decide is what kind of country they want.

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Studs Terkel

A great man has died, at 96.

He just missed by four days the unprecedent election of the first black American president.

He would've enjoyed it.

Life goes on.

Studs Terkel: He was a working man till the very end - USATO

Studs Terkel, the author, radio host and oral historian who died Friday in Chicago at age 96, liked to say, "I don't do interviews. I have conversations."

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Domingo Gómez Morín

This mathematician has studied the rational approximation of solutions to polynomial equations.
I find it very interesting, and I here post something from his Web Page:

"The Cartesian-decimal-system fundamentals have imposed the replacement of Number by its corresponding decimal value, i.e.: 3/2=6/4=1.5, that is, it has restricted 3/2 to the decimal result of dividing 3 by 2, and this constitutes a crude transfiguration and degradation of Number.

In the same way flowers bring us their multiple natural properties: beauty, color and scent, also Number brings out much more than just the decimal result of a division, it bears a relative value (The form of the ratio) and a very specific location within a set of ratios which plays an important role in the development of root-solving algorithms. Cartesian system has depersonalized Number confining it to just an absolute value.

Indeed, it is really striking to realize that ancient mathematicians (Babylonians, Greeks, etc.) certainly had at hand the most elemental arithmetic tool (The rational mean) for achieving all those "advanced" algorithms that were consecrated as the most outstanding successes brought to light by the Cartesian system and decimal fractions. Believe It or Not!, based on all the evidence at hand, it seems that the extremely simple arithmetical methods shown in the book “The Fifth Arithmetic Operation” have no precedents at all, all through the very long history of roots solving.

These new trivial methods and the comments shown above are certainly very sound arguments to cogitate on the following important issues:

• The Cartesian system should not be considered as a fundamental system of Natural Philosophy but just as an artificial creation which apart from being extrinsic to the natural properties of Number also contributes to distort and vitiate the genuine image of Quantity.

• The results of the arithmetical operations of irrational numbers can be easily established by agency of the Rational Process (based on the Rational Mean in accordance with Number itself), rather than by using Dedekind's and Cantor's judgments.

• The traditional continued fractions expressions are just a particular case (Second Order Continued Fractions) of a more general conception called: Generalized Continued Fractions (Fractal Fractions), which yield periodic representations for algebraic numbers of higher degrees. You will realize that any representation of irrational numbers of higher degree get distorted when using the traditional continued fractions, that is, the “Second Order Continued Fractions” . It remains so much to be investigated on this matter mainly the issue on generating best approximants for roots of higher degrees, but these new generalized continued fractions are a step ahead on the comprehension of periodicity and best convergents.

• There are so few precedents on the analysis of the rational mean.

• The rational mean is the most intelligible arithmetical operation to understand irrational numbers, and the arithmonic mean is a particular case and an essential operation for root-solving.

Based on all the very important and simple arithmetical methods brought to light by the Rational Mean, and considering all the wonderful arithmetical properties that have been passed over during so long time, one can say now that it is certainly a pathetic arrogance to think that any result (i.e.: imaginary numbers, higher dimensions, cartesian system, relativity theory, etc.) coming out from artifices and opinions extrinsic to Number could ever supersede the Natural Order determined “in accordance with number by the forethought and the mind of Him that created all things, for the pattern was fixed, like a preliminary sketch,...” (quoted text: Nicomachus, chap.VI, [1])."

NASA Probe Shows Mercury More Dynamic Than Thought

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Earth's first nearly full look at Mercury reveals that the tiny lifeless planet took a far greater role in shaping itself than was thought, with volcanoes spewing ''mysterious dark blue material.''

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Minerals on Mars Point to More Recent Presence of Water

Scientists are seeing global mineralogical signs that Mars was at least occasionally wet for the first two billion years of its existence.

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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Forty-one years after Sidney Poitier’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” racial politics in America have changed, but not completely.

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Pemex Gulf Accident Investigators Blocked From Site

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Mexican attorney general's office blocked investigators from visiting the site of the Gulf of Mexico's deadliest offshore oil accident for more than two months, limiting the scope of a Petroleos Mexicanos study into the incident, a report says.

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Seizing The Opportunity For A New Progressive Era In America

If, as seems likely, Sen. Barack Obama is elected and Democrats win greater majorities in both houses of Congress, will we witness a new era of bold progressive change, a 21st-century Green New Deal? Certainly many of the elements are present. Now it is on us to do the same, to seize the moment, accept our mandate, and begin a new era in America.

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Values in Education

Last week we had the visit of Professor Ángel Homero Flores Samaniego. He has a proposal to research Mathematics Education. He mentioned the issue of values, there was a reaction in the audience about this. I remembered from my Benedictine University, Alternative Certification Program for High School Teachers, that there was a Jewish-American scientist, we studied, that dwelt on these issues: Lawrence Kohlberg. These are important issues.

I am glad Professor Flores brought that up. Without students and teachers, ethically engaged in the academic pursuits, the success is not as good as it can be.

Professor Steven Pinker wrote a relevant piece in the NYT.

A Guy I Trust

You can read below in a NYT piece, how Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, and now Felipe Calderón, have tried to clean up house to fight crime.

If you are not Mexican, very likely you don't understand why they did not succeed; I have more of a clue; the whole system is based on lies. Two years ago Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won the election for President, and Felipe Calderón stole it. Of course his government can be infiltrated by gangsters, he is one.

I trust AMLO.

In Mexico’s Drug War, Sorting Out Good Guys From Bad

In Mexico’s drug war, the reality is that many bureaucrats are serving both the taxpayers and the traffickers.

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